ThirukkurugUr is the kshetram where nammAzhwar in his archAvatara thirumEni blessed nAdamunighazh with the 4000 pAsurams. This kshetram is on the banks of the river thAmaraparani. The perumal in this kshetram is called AdhipirAn.
"Onrum dEvum ulagum uyirum mattrum yaadumillaa anru naan mugan tannODu dEvar ulagODu uyir paDaithaan. kunram pOl mani mAdam nIdu ThirukkurugUr adhanul ninra AdhipirAn nirka matraideivam naduthirE"
In Bhoolokam, amongst the Acharyars, the first and foremost Acharyar is nammAzhwar. NammAzhwar's father was "kAriyAr" and mother was "UdayanangayAr".
The birth place of nammAzhwar's mother was "thiruvanparisAram" which was a kshetram by itself. After kAriyAr and UdayanangayAr were married they were childless for many years, however, in the kshetram called "Thirukkurungudi" they obtained the blessings of "nambi" in thirukkurungudi and a child was born to them. This child was the amsam of senaimudaliar "vishwaksEna". nammAzhwar had several names - kArimAran, sadagOpan, parAngusha. "sadam" - this vAyu itself - he had controlled so he was called sadagOpan, parAngushan, kArimAran were his other names. This child as soon as he was born was already filled with jnAnam. A jeevan who has surrendered to the acharyan and having got rid of all the dOshas in the samsAram and attaining jnAnam are of a different kind. Mahapurushars are different. Mahatmas and avatAra purshars are also different.
The birth place of nammAzhwar's mother was "thiruvanparisAram" which was a kshetram by itself. After kAriyAr and UdayanangayAr were married they were childless for many years, however, in the kshetram called "Thirukkurungudi" they obtained the blessings of "nambi" in thirukkurungudi and a child was born to them. This child was the amsam of senaimudaliar "vishwaksEna". nammAzhwar had several names - kArimAran, sadagOpan, parAngusha. "sadam" - this vAyu itself - he had controlled so he was called sadagOpan, parAngushan, kArimAran were his other names. This child as soon as he was born was already filled with jnAnam. A jeevan who has surrendered to the acharyan and having got rid of all the dOshas in the samsAram and attaining jnAnam are of a different kind. Mahapurushars are different. Mahatmas and avatAra purshars are also different.
NammAzhwar is "gharba srimAn" - "Ajanma suddhar", what do we mean by Ajanma suddhars? If we lead a life somehow like the ordinary people of the world, eating, talking, working, sleeping, playing not only that having indulged in wrong ways and doings, then somehow returning back and getting into the hold of a mahatma and due to his kripa and anugraha vishEsham attaining suddhi and coming to the "sanmArgam" is a different thing altogether. Usually we hear many friends saying, "I heard the discourse of this mahatma and I changed, I read his books, heard about them, saw them and changed, after association with this mahatma and his kripa I changed". Some, from birth itself will be born as suddhar. If we smell a young mango tree, in its younger age there will be no smell of the mango emanating from it. No other trees will have the smell emanating in their inception. The thulasi is markedly different. From a young thulasi plant, even if just one leaf has sprout and if we mash the leaf and smell it, we can smell the thulasi gandham coming from it. For prahlada, when he was in the womb itself, Sage Narada gave the upadesha of the ashtAkshara mantram. Similarly in the Ramayanam, lakshmanAzhwar and BharatAzhwar being the amsam of the serpent adishEsha were born likewise. Suka brahmam when being in the womb itself was a jNani and was born thus. Similarly our nammAzhwar was born. When suka brahmam was born he was already 16 years, whose son was he?. Which VyAsar that gave us all the vedas, upanishads, brahmasutras, the 1 lakh stotram of the Mahabharatam, for such a jNanabrahmam VyAsar, suka brahmam was born. Even VyAsar himself still had the love for his son. As soon as suka brahmam was born, sukar kept walking to find a place of solitary confinement in order to make penance. He had no desire for the body, nor the desire for consuming water or food not even clothes. When walking away thus, VyAsar still possessing the affection for his son calls out to him. Even when called so, suka brahmam does not look back.
"putreti tan-mayatayā taravo 'bhinedus ta sarva-bhūta-hdaya munim ānato 'smi" says bhagavatham.
When VyAsar called out to his son, being a "jNani" who is present everywhere, even when the plants and trees enquired of him, suka brahmam, never looked back but kept steadfastly treading on his path to solitude.
Likewise in the bhagavatham there is the story of Jadabharathar. Child Jadabharathar being so silent, everyone wondered whether he was dumb, deaf or unknowing, which nacchiar says, why doesn't he speak? Even when clapping hands or making sounds with playing toys, jadabharathar would not turn back making one wonder whether he was deaf. When lots and lots of activities are going on around him without even flinching or becoming attracted at all, how come jadabharathar is being quiet wondering if there is life in his body or not. But jadabharathar is purposefully being like that. Because jadabharathar has something with him and he is afraid that someone will steal it from him. If one steals the purse or pen it is ok, but jadabharathar is worried that his jNana will be stolen away from him. How come, this atma jNana that jadabharathar has will be stolen by anyone who comes to him to spend time in wasteful deeds. When someone comes to us to spend their past time by talking unnecessarily are potentially taking away our valuable time and this is what jadabharathar is worried about and keeps silent.
Somebody comes and says "I am bored and wish to spend some time with you". They steal away your atma jNanam. Unnecessary sights, unnecessary talk, unnecessary time, unnecessary actions - all these steal away your jNanam, essentially your atma jNanam. Whatever worldly matters you engage yourself time and again will definitely push you back into the lifecycle of birth and death. What is this "vAsana" in the mind then? Whatever we hear, practice within is verily the mind. Mind is a box. Some things we take in through the ears are put in this box. Some more things come from the eye which are dropped into this box. Things from touch are taken and put into the box. Likewise things from taste and smell are put into the box. Whatever is gone into the box is there to stay forever. Like something has been recorded and cannot be erased, it has imprinted itself, but it will surface again from the mind one day for sure. Whatever heard through the ears, eyes, if the mind likes it, it will command to do it again and again. Similarly with the hands, once the action is liked, the command will prompt you to do it again and again. Why because, it has been liked so much.
How easily the recording is achiee ved can be attributed to ttamOgunam, for example : sleep, laziness, gossip, no work, dirty sights, fear, suspicion. Even one time if these are executed, the mind will grab it instantly to record and store permanently.
rajOgunam is about titles, position, jealousy - when these are done twice, then the mind will catch it and store.
In case of bhakthi, whatever be the amount of discourse one listens to, how much ever one performs keerthanam, whatever be the amount one thinks of the bhagavan, prays, whatever be the extent one tries to be good, the mind will not take these sattva vasanas inside so easily. That is the reason why you need to constantly perform the shravanam repeatedly. Need to listen again and again.
So whatever is detrimental to the mind, whomsoever does things related to this are the thieves of our atmajNanam.
Thats why nammAzhwar being a jNani from birth itself, being an amsam of vishwaksEna the child neither speaks, laughs, clap his hands, kick his hands or legs. When one looks at this child, one cannot determine whether this child is having some handicap or disease to be in such a state. Look at one sleeping with no movement, being in anandam. Look at one who is not moving his hands or legs but in dhyAnam or samadhi. Though neither of them are moving, we can yet find the difference between them. The face of the person in sleep will look like that of a dead person whereas the face of the person in dhyAnam will be filled with shanti, peace and tejas.
The reason being during sleep the mind has taken in the tamOgunam,
whilst during the meditation, the mind has taken in the sattva gunam.
The face will have tejas and shanthi and when we go in front of the one doing dhyAnam, we will get the feeling of closing our eyes as well, as the mind will enjoy a separate bliss by itself. No one could suspect that nammAzhwar could have some disease or dosham because the face is full of prakasam. There is a amazing tejas in the face of nammAzhwar. There is an amazing divine quality in the face and in the eyes and they could not understand what it was. The child went towards adipirAn and nearby there was a tamarind tree which was the amsam of the AdisEshan. Going to the foot of this tamarind tree, the child nammAzhwar sat with chin mudra in yoga, consuming no food, water and no movement like this not just 1 hour, day or an year but for 16 years. What then can be said of the greatness of nammAzhwar, being in yogam for 16 years. How many pAsurams were sung, nammAzhwar was in earth for only 35 years out of which 16 years was in yoga nishtai. He sang so many pAsurams but he never went to any divyadesham.
Bhagavan being so fond of keerthanam, all the perumal in all the divyadeshams came searching to ThirukkurugUr and took the pAsurams from nammAzhwar, what can be said of the greatness of nammAzhwar. We all go to see perumal in ThirukkurugUr but here all the perumal of the respective divyadeshams came in search of nammAzhwar to ThirukkurugUr. What can also be said of the vishEsham of ThirukkurugUr. There was an elder on the banks of the river thAmaraparani and performing seva sleeping in mantapams. There was also a dog roaming about the town and waiting for the leftover food thrown by the occupants and wagging its tail. This dog did not belong to anyone and was a roaming dog waiting to eat the leaf with leftover food thrown on the streets. It had disease all over it and kept running here and there. On the streets of ThirukkurugUr surrounding the AdhipirAn temple were residing many paramabhAgavOttamarghazh and bhakthas who were prapannanistargazh, after they finish their food and their leaf will be thrown out. The dog will eat the food left over in the leaf. In the night the dog will come over and sleep in the mantapam on the banks of river thAmaraparani where the elder was usually sleeping. The elder will have a few cloth bundles and the dog will come over and sleep near it. Like this the dog's life was going on, it went one day to the other side of the bank of river thAmaraparani. Whilst crossing the thAmaraparani river initially the waters were less but suddenly the force became intense and there was a flood coming over the dog. Due to this extra flow of water, the dog could not offer resistance and swim against it. The elder had some affection for the dog as it used to come and sleep near him in the night. As he is looking, the dog unable to bear the force of the water entering into it, was becoming very difficult and it broke open its head, drowned and died in the water. The elder looking on was amazed to see the head of the dog split open and from the centre of the head a jyOthi (light)
liek the way it will come out for yogis (urdhvarEjas) started to emanate and go upward.
The elder then sings a song,
"vAikurugai thiruveedhi echhilai variyunda naikkum paramapadam alitha antha naiyOdu intha peikkum idam alithar pazhudO peruman makudam chaikkum padikki kavi sollum jNana tamizh kadalE". This song is actually written in a stone carving on the banks of the river thAmaraparani. In this kshetram of ThirukkurugUr, a dog having eaten the left overs of the food consumed by the adiyArs, this street dog which was wandering on the streets, while at the time of its death, life came out as a jyOthi and attained paramapadam. He says "naikkum paramapadam alitha antha", the lord gave the paramapadam to the dog.
"naiyOdu intha peikkum idam alithar pazhudO" - when the lord can give this to the dog, can not the lord give the paramapadam to this "pei" (ghost) - living just like that without any samskAram (is called "pei").
"naiyOdu intha peikkum idam alithar pazhudO peruman makudam chaikkum padikki kavi sollum jNana tamizh kadalE" - this song has been carved on the stone, such is the greatness of this kshetram called ThirukkurugUr.
Subham
Radhe Radhe
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
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